And we're worried about texting while driving...

I've been wondering what we'll do about a car. We want to live near the MRT and my company is outside the network of subway stations so I will need a car to get back and forth to work. Shirley will assumedly be within the grid of public transportation so we'll at least be able to get by on one car. My plan is to purchase a car used, which should be the most economical solution, rather than lease or buy new. I'd like something small to navigate the city (park), fuel efficient, yet big enough to transport bikes to races, either inside or on a rack.

We currently have a Mini Cooper which fits the bill but the import tax on cars is crazy so it will not come with us and, anyway, is probably not the easiest or cheapest to maintain in Taiwan. I started doing some research into Japanese Mini-substitues if you will, cars like the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Mazda 3, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Versa, which is apparently the "Tilda" in Taiwan.

I'm fascinated by cars that have different names in different countries. I mean, the names are generally meaningless to begin with. What's a Corolla? a Prius? Impreza? Hummer? well, forget that one! How is the "Tilda" more marketable in Asia than the U.S.? Maybe they need to make it less likely for the factory to accidently ship a Tilda to the U.S. because it has a feature that would bar it from the road in the States. What would that be?

Oh, just an LCD TV screen with a DVD player built into the dash; this is stock! Driving in Taipei is insane enough. Now we need people watching movies while driving? And with subtitles?!?!

When I was working in Korea there were three of us travelling to a factory in Icheon, a couple hours east of Seoul . We made the trip out in a small taxi, with all our luggage, most of which I ended up sitting on. During the week out in Icheon, we saw a cab parked at the curb which was a nice looking roomy minivan. We asked the driver for his card and called him to come pick us up at the end of the week for the journey back.

We hadn't seen the inside and were pleasantly surprised to find that it had multiple flat screen TVs and a crazy surround sound system with fiber optic lighting. I made a comment to my coworker that involved "Pimp my ride..." and when I said that, the driver's ears perked up and he gave me the thumbs up sign in the rear view mirror. I guess they get MTV over there. I also noticed that the driver had a screen for himself up front, much like this Nissan.

I wonder if it is interlocked such that when the car is in drive the DVD turns off. Anyone know? Apparently another feature in cars in Taiwan is wall-to-wall carpeting, on the dash! I think the carpeting is aftermarket, though. Maybe they watch MTV in Taiwan, too.